Monument Valley

Monument Valley sends Princess Ida through silent, impossible architecture inspired by M. C. Escher – staircases that lead nowhere, towers that change shape when rotated, and perspective tricks where a path only appears once you turn the whole structure with your finger. The controls are purely touch-based: by swiping dials, sliding platforms, and tapping the path, you guide Ida through a maze that looks like a moving optical illusion and changes right before your eyes the moment you touch the right control. No text, no explanation of mechanics – the game relies on you gradually realizing on your own how the space around you actually works.

Ustwo games released Monument Valley in 2014, and it quickly became an example of what a "premium" mobile game means: a one-time payment with no ads or microtransactions, a strong visual concept, and a deliberately short playtime that can be completed in a single sitting. The pastel color palette, quiet ambient music accompanying every step, and a minimalist story about forgiveness gave the game the air of an art object rather than a classic time-killer game, which landed it in galleries, at design conferences, and in modern-art collections.

Its commercial and critical success – including an Apple Design Award and millions of downloads – showed that there is a mobile audience willing to pay for a short but precisely polished experience, and it inspired a number of other "art puzzle" titles that took a similar path of visual puzzling over textual explanation.

Why play it: An ideal choice for anyone who wants to show that a mobile game can look and sound like a moving work of art, and who doesn't mind that it's over in under an hour.